When a party fails to disclose assets in divorce proceedings, the courts are entitled to draw appropriate inferences from the non-disclosure. This was demonstrated in a recent case in which the Family Court described the husband's conduct of the...
If you are applying to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a Deputy for property and financial affairs, you will need to ensure that you have a deputy bond in place. Deputy bonds are also sometimes referred to as security bonds.
The purpose of the deputy bond is to safeguard the assets of the individual who lacks capacity and the bond will guarantee to pay any financial losses suffered by the individual as a result of failures by the Deputy.
It is important to note that the Court of Protection will not issue the Order appointing the Deputy until such time as a deputy/security bond has been put in place. The bond will need to be renewed on an annual basis for the duration of the Deputy’s appointment however where an individual only has a small estate it is possible to arrange for a single payment to be made for the lifetime of the bond.
The deputy/security bond is payable from the estate of the individual that lacks capacity and not from the deputy’s personal funds.
If you have been appointed to act as a Deputy for an individual who lacks capacity and would like to discuss your ongoing duties and responsibilities then contact our specialist Court of Protection team to make an appointment today. However, please note that the Court takes the view that a Deputy should be able to carry out the day to day operation of the Deputyship without needing professional assistance, so may require you to pay personally for legal services dealing with matters which you could deal with yourself.